In the 1910s, Korea's economy collapsed due to Japan's forced invasion. Teenage Korean girls worked in spinning mills in Osaka, Japan, to support their families, with some as young as 11 years old. Female workers from Korea who toiled in Osaka's spinning mills, leading the world's spinning industry, faced lower treatment and poorer conditions compared to their Japanese counterparts. They endured discrimination, violence, and sexual exploitation.
While the Japanese discar...more

In the 1910s, Korea's economy collapsed due to Japan's forced invasion. Teenage Korean girls worked in spinning mills in Osaka, Japan, to support their families, with some as young as 11 years old. Female workers from Korea who toiled in Osaka's spinning mills, leading the world's spinning industry, faced lower treatment and poorer conditions compared to their Japanese counterparts. They endured discrimination, violence, and sexual exploitation.
While the Japanese discarded meat intestines as trash, Korean female workers sustained themselves by picking up and consuming these discarded intestines. Consequently, the Japanese derogatorily referred to them as ‘Korean pigs.’ Nevertheless, Korean female workers endured the hardships by singing work songs, establishing their own night schools, self-studying Hangul to maintain their national identity, and even leading strikes.
This documentary, through the testimonies and stories of 22 Korean female workers, prompts reflection on the struggles faced by strangers and immigrants in our time. Although the lyrics of the labor songs they sang are documented, the melodies remain undiscovered.less